Search

Cardiac arrhythmias are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. While antiarrhythmic drugs traditionally represent the first-line management strategy, their use is often limited by profound proarrhythmic effects. Several studies, including randomized control trials (RCTs), have demonstrated the antiarrhythmic efficacy of ranolazine, which is registered as an antianginal agent, while also establishing its safety profile. This review compiles clinical evidence investigating the antiarrhythmic properties of ranolazine, focusing primarily on ventricular tachycardia (VT) and atrial fibrillation (AF), as they are common rhythm abnormalities with serious complications. Data from RCTs indicate that ranolazine reduces VT incidence, although this effect is not universal. Therefore, we attempt to better describe the patient population that gains the most benefit from ranolazine due to VT suppression. Additionally, ranolazine is known to enhance the conversion rate of AF to sinus rhythm when combined with other antiarrhythmic drugs such as amiodarone, highlighting its synergistic effect in the atrium without provoking ventricular dysrhythmias. Despite the heterogeneity in the currently available data, ranolazine appears to be an effective and safe option for the management of various arrhythmias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In my study, through the example of the free royal city of Sopron, I am searching for an answer to the question how the Reformation influenced the political actions of the city’s leading body and its room for movement within the frameworks of estates. I will attempt to show in sketches how the intellectual horizon that can be reconstructed behind the city’s government is connected to the mentality of Lutheran Reformation. By focusing on one particular field, the educational policy of the town council, I will try to disclose how this manifested in practice in view of Sopron’s new educational institution (the lycée) established and maintained by the town council without any aristocratic patronage, unparalleled at that time. Finally, in a short outlook beyond the boundaries of the investigated period and by focusing on the activities of one former teacher (János Ribini) and two alumni (Baron László Prónay and János Kis), I will give evidence for the continued existence of the lycée’s mentality – which I will call confessional-patriotic – even after the town council had lost its supervision of the educational institution.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Unhealthy dietary habits have clearly been shown to contribute to the development of CVDs. Beyond the primary nutrients, a healthy diet is also rich in plant-derived compounds. Natural polyphenols, found in fruits, vegetables, and red wine, have a clear role in improving cardiovascular health. In this review, we strive to summarize the results of the relevant pre-clinical and clinical trials that focused on some of the most important natural polyphenols, such as resveratrol and relevant flavonoids. In addition, we aim to identify their common sources, biosynthesis, and describe their mechanism of action including their regulatory effect on signal transduction pathways. Finally, we provide scientific evidence regarding the cardiovascular benefits of moderate, long-term red wine consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regular aerobic exercise (RAEX) elicits several positive adaptations in all organs and tissues of the body, culminating in improved health and well-being. Indeed, in over half a century, many studies have shown the benefit of RAEX on cardiovascular outcome in terms of morbidity and mortality. RAEX elicits a wide range of functional and structural adaptations in the heart and its coronary circulation, all of which are to maintain optimal myocardial oxygen and nutritional supply during increased demand. Although there is no evidence suggesting that oxidative metabolism is limited by coronary blood flow (CBF) rate in the normal heart even during maximal exercise, increased CBF and capillary exchange capacities have been reported. Adaptations of coronary macro- and microvessels include outward remodelling of epicardial coronary arteries, increased coronary arteriolar size and density, and increased capillary surface area. In addition, there are adjustments in the neural and endothelial regulation of coronary macrovascular tone. Similarly, there are several adaptations at the level of microcirculation, including enhanced (such as nitric oxide mediated) smooth muscle-dependent pressure-induced myogenic constriction and upregulated endothelium-dependent/shear-stress-induced dilation, increasing the range of diameter change. Alterations in the signalling interaction between coronary vessels and cardiac metabolism have also been described. At the molecular and cellular level, ion channels are key players in the local coronary vascular adaptations to RAEX, with enhanced activation of influx of Ca2+ contributing to the increased myogenic tone (via voltage-gated Ca2+ channels) as well as the enhanced endothelium-dependent dilation (via TRPV4 channels). Finally, RAEX elicits a number of beneficial effects on several haemorheological variables that may further improve CBF and myocardial oxygen delivery and nutrient exchange in the microcirculation by stabilizing and extending the range and further optimizing the regulation of myocardial blood flow during exercise. These adaptations also act to prevent and/or delay the development of coronary and cardiac diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Musculoskeletal hydatid cysts are rare, but being locally invasive, can potentially cause significant deformity or pathological fracture. Case presentation A 39 y.o. male presented to our orthopaedic outpatient clinic complaining of severe right hip pain, and inability to ambulate. Symptoms were not preceded by trauma. Subsequent imaging confirmed a large, 17 × 3 × 5 cm echinococcus cyst in the vastus lateralis, causing erosion of the proximal metaphysis of the femur. As a consequence the patient suffered a non-traumatic pathological intertrochanteric femur fracture. The patient was treated with an en-bloc excision of the lesion - the affected soft tissue envelope containing the large cyst - and as a second surgical step a cemented total hip replacement (THR) was implanted under the same anaesthetic. The manuscript reviews the literature regarding musculoskeletal hydatid disease.

Abstract Background Salmonella species can be rarely isolated from periprosthetic joint infections, however when present, are usually part of a severe septic clinical picture. Case presentations Two patients presented with late infected hip replacements to our institution. The first patient with multiple comorbidities had a confirmed Salmonella Enteridis infection with an abscess in the groin, with loosening of both components. He underwent a successful one stage cemented revision hip replacement, followed by 6 weeks of antibiotic therapy (ciprofloxacin). He had no recurrence or complications. The second patient was admitted in a septic condition with ARDS to the Intensive Care Unit 7 years following an uncemented total hip replacement. From an ultrasound guided hip aspirate Salmonella cholerae-suis was isolated. He underwent a successful a two-stage revision hip replacement. Conclusions Successful treatment of such potentially life threatening infections is achievable using modern orthopaedic techniques and close collaboration with the infectious diseases specialists.

The Earth's climate is projected to warm significantly in the 21st century, and this will affect human societies in many ways. Since sleep is a basic human need and part of everyone's life, the question of how temperature affects human sleep naturally arises. This paper examines the effect of daily mean temperature on sleep duration using nationally representative Hungarian time use surveys between 1976 and 2010. Compared to a day with an average temperature of 5-10 °C, colder temperatures do not influence sleep duration. However, as daily mean temperatures rise, sleep duration starts to strongly decline. The effect of a hot (>25 °C) day is -13.3 minutes, but if preceded by a few other hot days, the effect is even stronger, -24.7 minutes. The estimated sleep loss is especially large on weekends and public holidays, for older individuals, and men. Combining the estimated effects with temperature projections of twenty-four climate models shows that the warming climate will substantially decrease sleep duration. The projected impacts are especially large when taking into account the effects of heatwave days. This study also shows that different groups in society are likely to be affected in significantly different ways by a warming climate., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest No competing interests are declared., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study focuses on exploring the uniparental genetic lineages of Hungarian-speaking minorities residing in rural villages of Baranja (Croatia) and the Zobor region (Slovakia). We aimed to identify ancestral lineages by examining genetic markers distributed across the entire mitogenome and on the Y-chromosome. This allowed us to discern disparities in regional genetic structures within these communities. By integrating our newly acquired genetic data from a total of 168 participants with pre-existing Eurasian and ancient DNA datasets, our goal was to enrich the understanding of the genetic history trajectories of Carpathian Basin populations. Our findings suggest that while population-based analyses may not be sufficiently robust to detect fine-scale uniparental genetic patterns with the sample sizes at hand, phylogenetic analysis of well-characterized Y-chromosomal Short Tandem Repeat (STR) data and entire mitogenome sequences did uncover multiple lineage ties to far-flung regions and eras. While the predominant portions of both paternal and maternal DNA align with the East-Central European spectrum, rarer subhaplogroups and lineages have unveiled ancient ties to both prehistoric and historic populations spanning Europe and Eastern Eurasia. This research augments the expansive field of phylogenetics, offering critical perspectives on the genetic constitution and heritage of the communities in East-Central Europe., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Individuals' socio-demographic and economic characteristics crucially shape the spread of an epidemic by largely determining the exposure level to the virus and the severity of the disease for those who got infected. While the complex interplay between individual characteristics and epidemic dynamics is widely recognised, traditional mathematical models often overlook these factors. In this study, we examine two important aspects of human behaviour relevant to epidemics: contact patterns and vaccination uptake. Using data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary, we first identify the dimensions along which individuals exhibit the greatest variation in their contact patterns and vaccination uptake. We find that generally higher socio-economic groups of the population have a higher number of contacts and a higher vaccination uptake with respect to disadvantaged groups. Subsequently, we propose a data-driven epidemiological model that incorporates these behavioural differences. Finally, we apply our model to analyse the fourth wave of COVID-19 in Hungary, providing valuable insights into real-world scenarios. By bridging the gap between individual characteristics and epidemic spread, our research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of disease dynamics and informs effective public health strategies., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Quorum sensing (QS) is the ability of microorganisms to assess local clonal density by measuring the extracellular concentration of signal molecules that they produce and excrete. QS is also the only known way of bacterial communication that supports the coordination of within-clone cooperative actions requiring a certain threshold density of cooperating cells. Cooperation aided by QS communication is sensitive to cheating in two different ways: laggards may benefit from not investing in cooperation but enjoying the benefit provided by their cooperating neighbors, whereas Liars explicitly promise cooperation but fail to do so, thereby convincing potential cooperating neighbors to help them, for almost free. Given this double vulnerability to cheats, it is not trivial why QS-supported cooperation is so widespread among prokaryotes., Results: We investigated the evolutionary dynamics of QS in populations of cooperators for whom the QS signal is an inevitable side effect of producing the public good itself (cue-based QS). Using spatially explicit agent-based lattice simulations of QS-aided threshold cooperation (whereby cooperation is effective only above a critical cumulative level of contributions) and three different (analytical and numerical) approximations of the lattice model, we explored the dynamics of QS-aided threshold cooperation under a feasible range of parameter values. We demonstrate three major advantages of cue-driven cooperation. First, laggards cannot wipe out cooperation under a wide range of reasonable environmental conditions, in spite of an unconstrained possibility to mutate to cheating; in fact, cooperators may even exclude laggards at high cooperation thresholds. Second, lying almost never pays off, if the signal is an inevitable byproduct (i.e., the cue) of cooperation; even very cheap fake signals are selected against. And thirdly, QS is most useful if local cooperator densities are the least predictable, i.e., if their lattice-wise mean is close to the cooperation threshold with a substantial variance., Conclusions: Comparing the results of the four different modeling approaches indicates that cue-driven threshold cooperation may be a viable evolutionary strategy for microbes that cannot keep track of past behavior of their potential cooperating partners, in spatially viscous and in well-mixed environments alike. Our model can be seen as a version of the famous greenbeard effect, where greenbeards coexist with defectors in a evolutionarily stable polymorphism. Such polymorphism is maintained by the condition-dependent trade-offs of signal production which are characteristic of cue-based QS., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Scientific evidence suggests that apicultural products accumulate pollutants present in the hive environment, thus, they can be used as bioindicators. However, our understanding on the food safety implications of the presence of potentially toxic trace elements in these products remains incomplete. In our study, available data on the trace metal content of bee bread, propolis, beeswax and royal jelly, as well as their possible sources are reviewed. Furthermore, dietary risk assessments were conducted for elements that do not have any biological role in humans by comparing the estimated exposures with official reference values. In the case of elements with genotoxic carcinogen potential, the margin of exposure (MoE) approach was applied. The observed concentration ranges vary over a wide range for Fe (0.94-2125.20 mg/kg), Zn (

As the collapse of the Western Roman Empire accelerated during the 4th and 5th centuries, arriving "barbarian" groups began to establish new communities in the border provinces of the declining (and eventually former) empire. This was a time of significant cultural and political change throughout not only these border regions but Europe as a whole. 1 , 2 To better understand post-Roman community formation in one of these key frontier zones after the collapse of the Hunnic movement, we generated new paleogenomic data for a set of 38 burials from a time series of three 5 th century cemeteries 3 , 4 , 5 at Lake Balaton, Hungary. We utilized a comprehensive sampling approach to characterize these cemeteries along with data from 38 additional burials from a previously published mid-6th century site 6 and analyzed them alongside data from over 550 penecontemporaneous individuals. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 The range of genetic diversity in all four of these local burial communities is extensive and wider ranging than penecontemporaneous Europeans sequenced to date. Despite many commonalities in burial customs and demography, we find that there were substantial differences in genetic ancestry between the sites. We detect evidence of northern European gene flow into the Lake Balaton region. Additionally, we observe a statistically significant association between dress artifacts and genetic ancestry among 5 th century genetically female burials. Our analysis shows that the formation of early Medieval communities was a multifarious process even at a local level, consisting of genetically heterogeneous groups., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)